Letter: Don’t chain dogs outside

New England winters are tough on all living things, especially domestic animals. Chaining a dog for her entire life is one of the cruelest ways to treat an animal.

Dogs are social “pack” animals and need to be with humans and other canines. Exposed to all weather conditions, starved for attention, often receiving minimal food and water, the chained dog starts barking in frustration and finally gives up when she is ignored.

Chained dogs frequently become aggressive; they are easy prey to children taunting them and throwing objects at them.

There is no excuse for chaining. Most shelters today are able to find homes even for “problem” dogs. There are plenty of specialists to help with dog behavioral issues.

Contact your local animal control officer, police department or humane society, if you find a domestic animal lacking shelter, who is emaciated, or in poor condition. There is also much you can do yourself to help a suffering or neglected animal. Offer to take or buy her – sometimes money is an incentive. If that doesn’t work, ask if you can help take care of the animal, by feeding, grooming, walking, etc. Never pass by an animal in need; your help may be the difference between life and death.

Every locality should pass an ordinance banning the cruel practice of chaining dogs. Model legislation is available for the asking. For information on this and how you can help chained dogs, even a blueprint for a spacious insulated doghouse, phone 224-1351 or log on to give-us-shelter.com.

This is the same woman that wrote that folks should consider turning in their neighbors if their dogs bark when they are outdoors on a run. Obvious she must have neighbors who are aware that she is the animal police and behave accordingly.
Sorry about your Dad's dog HD. had a similar experience with my daughter's cat. She went off to college, and her cat wanted to go out one night when there was a full moon and about 7 inhes of crusted snow. Cat snuck out when my husband was locking the door. Never returned. Found a fox den in the woods and cat hair everywhere. So had to tell our freshman daughter her cat got lost.
We have foxes, bobcats, and coyotes here in my back yard.
She did adopt a cat in college though, still has it in NYC.

Hunter_Dan wrote:

02/06/2013

My dad used to keep his beagles outside. He built a big shed with two bunks and a fenced in run. They could get out in the run and back in. There were sliding doors we could close if we wanted to keep them in the houses - or in the runs for bunk maintenance. The bunks were enclosed and filled with hay and blankets. We fed them through a door on top of each bunk inside the shed. It was pretty sweet - but it was not enough to have Dad's best rabbit dog die one cold winter. He was old - more than 10 years old. And he just couldn't take it. My Dad never had an outside dog after that. He always wished that he'd given his best dog ever the comfort of being an inside pet. That was part of the way things were in the old days but it should not be the way things are allowed to be today. It's cruel and inhumane.